We Hear You: ‘I Never Knew the Wall Made That Much Difference’
The Daily Signal’s senior news producer, Kelsey Harkness, looks down at the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego with Terence Shigg, head of the local union of Border Patrol officers. (Photo: The Daily Signal)

Commentary By: Ken McIntyre

Ken McIntyre, a 30-year veteran of national and local newspapers, serves as senior editor at The Daily Signal and The Heritage Foundation’s Marilyn and Fred Guardabassi Fellow in Media and Public Policy Studies.
Editor’s note: We got some great feedback about our video report on the effects of the border wall built near San Diego, and this week’s mailbag leads off with your comments.—Ken McIntyre
Dear Daily Signal: Kelsey Harkness did a really good job covering the border wall in San Diego (“Underreported: How Building a Border Wall Changed San Diego”). I sent her video report to my congressman, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas. (This after a letter saying that with them doing a continuing resolution the day before, I should have just voted for the Democrats.)
I grew up in El Paso. We need a wall in Texas, and I’m glad to have this great video to show it works and why it works. I will be sharing it with friends.—D.J. Barnes, near Dallas
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Kelsey Harkness’ video report about the San Diego wall was well done and very succinct. I had never known that the wall made that much difference, or what the stats were. To have that information is highly irregular. No one else is even trying to produce this type of revealing info.—John Rhodes, Sherman, Texas
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Thank you for your report regarding the San Diego wall. The facts regarding crime were impressive. I was not aware, and now I feel informed. Great job.—Linda Schmehl
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The San Diego wall was underreported when construction began in 1989, and as the wall grew in breadth and depth over the next decade. Today, “underreported” would be too polite. The press positively censors itself from any mention of that wall, or those already standing in Texas and Arizona. It’s more like a plan than an oversight. —Alex Bendyna
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So far everything I’ve read or seen indicates you have a good grasp of what is going on, foreign and domestic. We are hit with the massive lies and subversion from the “mainstream media,” which is clearly the propaganda arm of the left. So when we find new news sources, it is refreshing.
I share your items with all my friends on Facebook, and I forward great articles like the one today on the border wall in San Diego. Keep up the great work.—William Rodgers

The improved border situation near San Diego due to building a wall was on the news quite a while ago. But, of course, not much about it on “the news” since.
This story should have been blasted out on Fox News and Fox Business, as well as other conservative talk and news venues, the entire time that Donald Trump talked about building the wall during the campaign. Shame on them for their neglect.
This is a positive case of what could happen with an improved wall or fence on our southern border. But it was Trump’s idea, and he was espousing “draining the swamp” and shaking things up, and was an “outsider,” not an establishment type.
Could it be the conservative establishment doesn’t want to see things shaken up either, and that they are comfortable with their niche in the status quo? Remember, most of the personalities on Fox News opposed Trump from the start. And most on the staffs of Weekly Standard and National Review opposed Trump as well.
I thought that was strange at the time, until I realized that Trump was the only candidate who specifically talked about changing the ruling order –” draining the swamp.” Evidently, many people on both sides are comfortable with being mired in and part of the swamp. And the media is totally immersed in it.—William Siems

Mexicans have a saying, “Muros hacen buenos vecinos.” Fences (or walls) make good neighbors. Surprised that most Mexicans are in favor of the fence? We here in San Diego have 20 years’ experience with the fence. It benefits citizens on both sides of the border.—Gerald Frazier
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I have to agree with securing our southern border, as I used to live on it. I was greatly conflicted, watching tattered and ragged people running past my house. However, Ciudad Acuna was a southern Mexican town that was doing well. It was right on the border, and seemed to thrive on being our neighbors.—Kay Hurdle

Gerald Eberwein writes that “a fence (aka wall) is a necessity.” (Photo: The Daily Signal)
For those of us who live in close proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border, a fence (aka wall) is a necessity. In 1991, we began having a crime every three and a half days in our community of 1,100. These ranged from broken windows to kidnapping.
The community got Congress behind us to get a fence built, to keep the criminal element living in Mexico from being able to take their stolen goods back across the line. Once it was erected, the next crime was three months and three weeks later and the criminal was from 3 miles north in the USA.
Yes, it was desperation, because we were losing our homeowners insurance. besides our possessions and the damage to the homes. I personally lost several weapons and five stereo systems. We were in danger for our lives every night because of home invasions. There were four kidnappings in the area during that time.
The last threat was the possible foreclosure on our homes. Our mortgage has a clause saying we will “maintain homeowners insurance for the length of the mortgage.” And since the insurance companies would not insure us, we were in jeopardy.
If that’s not enough to want the extreme measure of a more secure fence, I’d sure like to know what more could suffice.—Gerald Eberwein

William Siems: “This is a positive case of what could happen.” (Photo: The Daily Signal)
This video reinforces my belief that a wall of some type can work. It’s ironic; this good news is happening in a sanctuary state that protects all who get there, even the criminals. Both parties have let this situation fester far too long.
Work visas could be an answer, where immigrants can work here and keep their families in their own country. It must state that if they stay pass their allotted time without getting an extension, they can be arrested and barred from re-entry.—Chuck Faraci Sr.
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Where I live, it is possible to enter Mexico by paying a small fee at a border checkpoint. The Mexican government encourages it because it brings el norte’s dinero to el mercado.
(Re)entry to the United States requires only a U.S. ID (passport, green card, border pass, driver’s license, etc.). It’s not hard for anyone conducting themselves legally in either country.—James Monaco

Anne McDade Barrett: “The wall made a big difference in the influx of illegal immigrants.” Photo: The Daily Signal)
Excellent! Why wouldn’t we want our country safe, and to help the Border Patrol any way we can?—LouCyndra McDonald
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Though I now live in Colorado, I lived in San Diego from 1970 through 2013. When the Roger Hedgecock talk show was in its prime, his haranguing was instrumental in getting that wall built.
The wall made a big difference in the influx of illegal immigrants (call them what they are) to California. In the 1960s, California and Mexico had a system for Mexicans to work in California fields with “green cards.”
Transportation was set up for Mexicans to be bused from Mexico to California and back home to Mexico. It worked just fine until California unions pulled the plug on the system because they didn’t have any control over the workers; i.e., they weren’t getting any money out of it.—Anne McDade Barrett